The game plays out like a normal American-Football game, but it has some huge twists, in that you use power-ups to shake up the gameplay. Power-Ups include the Green Shell, which bounces all around the arena once thrown, the Red Shell, which targets the nearest player, the Blue Shell, which targets the player who most recently scored a goal, the Yoshi Egg, which acts as a green shell but rolls through multiple players, the Birdo Egg, which goes faster than a Yoshi Egg, the Bob-Omb, which explodes upon being touched by a player, the Power Star, which grants the player who obtained it more speed and agility, the Super Bell, which grants the player who obtained it more speed, agility and the ability to use the Cat Dive, the Metal Box, which turns anyone who obtained it into a strong metal covered character, the Invisibility Cloak, which makes the person on the television invisible but visible on the GamePad, the Megaleg, which grants the player two giant robotic legs, and last but definitely not least, the Wiggler Summon, which summons a HUGE Wiggler onto the course that will demolish anything in it's path by going underground and popping right up again.

Once you win a match, you will win a trophy and a stamp. There are fifty stamps to collect in the game that can be used in Miiverse posts. The trophies are placed on a trophy stand that can be accessed from the main menu. Additional game modes include watching a football match played by CPU's, throwing a football at targets, tackling as many people as possible, running to the end zone without getting tackled, jumping at the right time and even having contests to see who's the fastest runner to the end zone.